About

Born in Brussels, I lived in Kempsford, Rome, and San Francisco before the age of five, when my family settled in Switzerland. Raised in Geneva by a U.N. diplomat and a professor of Art History, I grew up with an appreciation for both diplomacy and aesthetics. After completing my bachelor's degree in Media and Communications at Tufts University, I moved to New York City, where I worked with renowned filmmaker and activist, Iara Lee. During my time working at Cultures of Resistance, I not only helped produce a series of events and exhibitions, but I also honed my communications skills while developing the award-winning documentary of the same name, filmed across the MENA region. I further crystallized these skills at Art Quest International, where I developed unique travel itineraries for enthusiasts of contemporary art and architecture, compiling city guides and serving as an on-site communications liaison in Paris & Berlin.
Realizing that my passion for communications could be applied to any industry, I shifted gears and was recruited to serve as the PR & Media Director of one of San Francisco's biggest and busiest music venues, Mezzanine. Over the course of three years, I launched and augmented Mezzanine's digital assets, wrote near-daily press releases, developed novel marketing strategies, and fostered relationships with the press and the public alike.
After a brief stint working in research and development at an innovative research thinktank in Brooklyn, Think Conservatory, I was hired to serve as the Global Editor-in-Chief of ModelPeople's CultureBlog, where I managed a team of international writers and delivered insights and reports on global consumer trends. This experience led me to be recruited by Flavorpill Media, where I worked as the Managing Editor of the Los Angeles office, writing, commissioning, and curating content for daily and weekly publication.
During this time, I was invited to consult with Now Art LA, where I helped develop innovative public art programs and produced presentations and pitch decks. Following the completion of a number of public art projects, I joined NGNM, where I served as Associate Producer, developing and pitching cutting-edge VR/AR activations while simultaneously liaising with peers in Istanbul to produce a prototype for Hala Systems.
In 2018, I relocated to Istanbul to pursue a master's degree in Communication Design at Sabancı University and have, since, been working as a copy editor and video editor for Spaces of Culture, an initiative launched by the Goethe-Institut, the Swedish Consulate, the Dutch Consulate, and the Alliance Française of Istanbul, among a host of other clients. I continue to produce creative writing and video content while developing a groundbreaking digital cultural preservation project, The Virtual Illés Initiative, based on an interactive website I creative directed, the Mughrabi Quarter Virtual Archive.
Kateri O'Neil